Mac Mac Falls

Mac Mac drops roughly sixty-five metres into a narrow gorge, and the reason it falls as two streams rather than one is human: gold diggers blasted the lip with dynamite hoping to expose the gold-bearing reef, splitting the fall permanently. The name is said to come from the many Scottish Mac surnames among the diggers. It was declared a provincial heritage site in 1983. The viewing platform is a short walk from the road behind a fence, since the gorge sides are sheer. A few kilometres away the Mac Mac Pools are a separate site where the river runs over rock into shallow pools that people swim in, with picnic sites and a short interpretive trail. The surrounding country is commercial pine and eucalyptus plantation, which is what most of this district looks like now.

History

The waterfall once fell as a single stream until miners blasted it with dynamite hoping to expose the gold-bearing reef, and it now falls in two. It was declared a Provincial Heritage Site on 18 February 1983, together with the indigenous forest in the kloof below (Wikipedia, Mac-Mac Falls).

The landscape

• The split by dynamite - a single fall blasted into two by gold diggers.
• The sixty-five-metre drop - twin streams into a narrow gorge.
• The Scottish name - said to come from the Mac surnames among the diggers.
• The Mac Mac Pools - a separate swimming and picnic site a few kilometres away.

When to go

November to April for volume. One hour, or longer if you include the pools.

Good to know

The falls themselves are viewed from behind a fence - there is no way down. The pools are a different site with a separate fee. Surrounding forestry plantation is not scenic. Weekends and holidays fill both car parks.

Nearby

Sabie and Lone Creek Falls are south; Graskop is north.

Key facts